


Switched At Birth

by ddh1973



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-04-03 10:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4097314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddh1973/pseuds/ddh1973
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye, Kara and Lincoln travel back to the day Grant Ward was born and switch him with another baby in the hospital that had died shortly after birth.  All of it in an effort to save Grant from a life of abuse, along with the lives of two people that took their revenge without thinking about the consequences of their actions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. January, 1983

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this came to me late last night and I wrote it out quickly. I am working on the second chapter already. Any feedback on this story would be greatly appreciated or any ideas.

_**January, 1983** _

It was around one in the morning on a bitterly cold and snowy January day as a woman, wearing scrubs with baby ducks on them, slipped into the nursery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She looked at the tags on each cradle until she came to the ones she was looking for.

The newborn baby boy in the one marked Ward was lying there and the woman felt tears fill her eyes as she reached down to pick the baby boy up. She smiled at him and felt her heart melt at how innocent he was at this moment but also knew what was to come for the boy if he stayed with his family.

She then glanced at the baby boy in the cradle marked Gibson next to the baby she held. If the records she had found were correct, this little angel would pass away from Sudden Infant Death syndrome in a week’s time.

‘I hope this works and Grant can have a happy life with a family that will love him,’ she thought to herself as she placed the baby in her arms in the crib beside the other baby boy.

She lifted the other baby, who had almost the same features as Grant, and placed him in the one she had just taken Grant from and quickly switched bracelets on the babies the way she had been taught to.

The woman then slipped out of the room as the lone nurse on duty came back into the room and proceeded to take the cradle Grant Ward had been placed in to his ‘parents’.

* * *

A week and a half had passed as Skye, Kara and Lincoln sat in the hotel room they had rented upon their arrival to this time period and watched the news coverage of the funeral of the infant son of Senator Travis Ward and his wife Millicent. The grieving couple was leaving the church with their two children, Louise and Christian. The young girl looked like her heart was broken.

“Did we do the right thing? He wouldn’t have wanted us to do this,” Skye said, her heart breaking for the family, especially the little girl.

“Skye, the family that has him loves him with all of their heart and will be amazing parents to him,” Kara stated calmly. “If we can change the future where Simmons and Fitz aren’t both sitting on death row for his murder, Grant would support what we did.”

“Skye, this was your idea and it was still a good one even now. The baby that died will never experience the abuse we all knew was coming and his family will have a beautiful baby that they will cherish,” Lincoln said, trying to reassure his friend but his own guilt and misgivings over what they had done were clear on his face.

“What happens when all of this comes out?”

“All three of us haven’t even been born yet and once we go back, our futures will be different,” Kara said but even her own doubts about what they had done were showing. A flash of light appeared and all three of them walked through it to their future, whatever it was. 


	2. Five Years Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next few chapters will be background chapters that detail Grant's life with his new family and kind of short for now. This one takes place five years later and I really like how it turned out, despite how short it is. I already have his first meeting with Skye and the team already written, I just got to get up to the point in the timeline of the story where it can be posted.

_**July, 1988** _

Grant Gibson ran through the park, chasing his brown Labrador puppy as his parents watched him. He followed the puppy and wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing when he bumped into a man and fell to the ground

The five year old started to cry and hold his elbow as his parents, Michael and Emily rushed over to him.

He was lifted into his father’s arms and laid his head on the familiar and comforting shoulder.

“I got hurt, Daddy.”

“It’s okay, buddy. How about we go home and let mommy fix your elbow while I make some lunch.”

“Can we have hot dogs, please Daddy.”

Michael, a six foot tall firefighter with dark hair and eyes, felt his heart melt at the pleading look in his son’s eyes and would have given in in a second.

“No, Grant. We are going to have sandwiches for lunch. We are going to your grandparents for a cookout tonight and you can have a hot dog then,” Emily Gibson firmly stated.

She was barely five foot tall with a tiny frame and also had dark hair and eyes. She looked like a good wind could knock her over but given the reaction to her statement by the two most important men in her life; she was the boss of her family.

“Okay mommy.”

Emily watched as her husband carried their son over to their car and straps him in his car seat, Buddy, their puppy, following behind them. She felt blessed to have the both of them because the memory of the death of Grant Ward stayed with her five years later.

He had been the son of Senator Ward and had died of SIDS a week after his birth. Her heart had gone out to the family and her first thought had been of gratitude that her baby was still with her.

“Emily, we have a little boy that needs his mommy to take care of him.” She smiled at Michael and rushed over to the car to go home and take care of her boys.


	3. Moving Day

_**June, 1993** _

Ten year old Grant stood in the middle of his bedroom and it felt weird seeing it empty, except for some boxes. The boxes were stacked along the wall, waiting for the movers to come and get them. He didn’t want to move and leave his friends but his Dad had gotten a new job at a firehouse in Los Angeles.

“Grant, are you ready to go?” He turned and saw his mom standing in the doorway, tears in her eyes.

He walked over to her and hugged her, his mother’s head now reaching his shoulders. He had hit another growth spurt before school had ended and Grant had been the tallest boy in his class.

“Yes mom.”

“We need to go to the airport or we are going to miss our flight.”

Mother and son walked out of the room and left the only home they had known as a family to fly to LA to meet his dad, who had flown there a couple of days earlier. They handed their carry on bags to the cab driver that was waiting for them and glanced back at the house.

“Mom, are you scared?” Emily smiled at her beautiful boy before squeezing his hand reassuringly.

“Yes but we are going to be fine, Grant.”

“I know because we will all be together. I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, my sweet boy.”

They got into the cab that was waiting for them and watched out the back window as their house slowly faded into the distance.

A couple of weeks later, Michael Gibson was on duty at the firehouse when his team was called to stop a kitchen fire at St. Agnes Orphanage. He had helped rescue a little girl named Mary, who had been trapped by the sink and had carried her outside to be treated by the paramedics. He smiled at the little girl, whose adorable Eurasian features tugged at his heart and had an idea that his wife, who had been told after giving birth to Grant that she couldn’t have any more children, would love. Grant needed a sibling.

“Mary, what do you say to Captain Gibson,” the nun standing with him at the ambulance said to the little girl.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, pretty girl.”

Michael waved to the little girl who waved back before going back to his team. He wanted to give that sweet little girl a family that would love her. After a conversation with his wife and son, all three of them had gone back to the orphanage to introduce themselves to Mary, only to find that she had been placed with a foster family just the day before. The family had left the orphanage that day as Mary watched them from an upstairs window, tears in her eyes.

“Why can’t I go home with them, Sister Margaret?”

“We have our reasons, Mary.”

“I just want a family to love me,” the little girl sobbed out, her heart broken.  “They would have loved me, I just know it.”

Sister Margaret comforted the crying little girl and felt anger at Shield for not allowing them to let Mary be adopted. This little angel needed a home and Captain Gibson and his family could have very easily been that for her.


	4. Prom Night

At six foot and two inches tall, sixteen year old Grant was slightly taller than his father, with jet black hair and caramel colored brown eyes that made his straight female and gay male classmates go crazy. He was also very popular because of his success on the basketball team, being in the top ten of academics in his class and as a member of the ROTC. He was planning on going to West Point after he graduated from high school.

If his eyes made people swoon, combine his dark good looks with his uniform and it was a lethal combination to his hormone riddled classmates. Of course, Emily and Michael had taught him to respect others and so the rare times he had gone out on a date, Grant had been a gentleman.

Grant wanted to be liked for how he treated people, not because of how good he looked in his uniform, how smart he was or that he could throw a ball in a hoop. His mother and father had taught him to treat people how you want to be treated. His life was perfect in so many ways; his mother was the heart of their family and his parents loved each other even after a rare argument about some issue. There were times he was afraid that something would happen to destroy that.

 

Grant was nervous as he finished putting on his tuxedo to go and pick up his date for the Junior Prom. He had decided to take his friend Abigail James, who didn’t have a date. At sixteen, he hadn’t really dated much since he started high school almost three years before.

He glanced at Buddy who, at eleven wasn’t as active as he used to be, was lying on Grant’s bed, watching his master get ready. “How do I look, Buddy?” Grant rolled his eyes as he realized what he had just done as the door to his room opened and a tiny little girl with pale skin, dark curls and crystal blue eyes stepped into the room. He smiled at his sister, Megan and held his arms out for a hug.

She had been adopted as a baby by his parents a year after they had moved to LA. The idea of adopting a child hadn’t left his parents even after everything had fallen through with his dad wanting to adopt Mary, the little girl he had rescued from a fire. He knew his father still thought about Mary at times and Grant hoped that for hers and his father’s sake, that she had finally found a family. There had been some reason why it hadn’t been meant for his family to adopt her but then they wouldn’t have Megan, who had been a blessing to all of them from the moment she had come into their lives at six months old.

The five year old giggled as she jumped into her big brother’s arms, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. “Mommy said its time for pictures, Grant.”

“Well let’s go find her then.”

The siblings walked down the stairs to find their parents standing in the living room with Emily holding a camera, a tear filled smile on her face.

“Grant, take her over to the fireplace and the both of you smile for me. I want some pictures of my babies.”

After posing for several pictures with his sister, he sat Megan down on the floor so he could go and pick up Abby. He walked over to the door and left the house after some last minute advice from both of his parents and a hug from his mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is when it starts to get interesting. I already have the next chapter written and after I edit it for mistakes, I will post it sometime tomorrow.


	5. Very Bad First Impressions

**May 2001**

It was a typical sunny day in Southern California as Grant walked into his family’s three bedroom home in the Hollywood Hills. He went upstairs to set his book bag down in this room and went to search for his mother.

He knew something was wrong when he got to the den and found his mother sobbing in his father’s arms with their attorney, a short and balding man with a bit of a belly by the name of Jack Layton beside them. Also sitting with them was an older man and woman and another woman in her thirties that appeared to be their attorney.

“You can’t take him from us! He is eighteen years old and it is his choice not ours,” Emily shrieked at the older woman.

Grant knew instantly that he didn’t like the woman because she had made his mother cry.

“Grant is our son, not yours! So yes we can!”

“Actually Mrs. Gibson is right, Mrs. Ward,” the attorney for the older couple said.

“If the switch had been discovered before his eighteenth birthday than you would have a case but all of this depends on what Grant says. He is legally an adult now.”

“What the fuck is going on here,” Grant harshly bit out, cringing at the look his mother gave him for the word he had used. He would have to put a dollar in the swear jar after this was over.

“Son, come and sit down,” Michael said gently.

He walked into the room and sat beside his father and listened to his father gently explain about how he had been switched with another baby and that he was biologically another family’s child.

“I’m staying here with my family. I don’t know the Ward’s and if this is how they treat people, I don’t care to know them. No one talks to my mother that way,” Grant said, glaring at the woman he was supposedly his biological mother.

“You are my child and you aren’t staying in this low class home,” Millicent Ward stated.

“Milly, shut up,” Travis Ward commented, embarrassed at how his wife was acting.

“Just you wait a minute! No one comes into my home and insults my family like that,” Emily stood up, fierce anger lighting up her dark eyes as the remnants of her tears still lay on her cheeks. “My husband and I both come from wealthy families and we chose to live a comfortable life instead of flaunting our money the way your family seems to do. Being decent people and teaching our children to be respectful to others and to work hard for what you get is more important to us. What would have happened to my baby if he would have survived? I have heard the rumors among my family’s inner circle about how the two of you treat your children.”

Grant stood up and walked out of the room, his heart breaking as he realized that this was the moment he had been afraid of for so long. He didn’t belong here with them, he never had. He slammed the door to his bedroom, tears falling from his eyes as he punched the wall before sliding down it, his head in his hands, sobbing He was so lost in his own turbulent emotions that he didn’t notice his mother walking into his bedroom.

“Grant, you are my son in every way that matters,” Emily said, sitting down beside him. “I’m not letting you go. You are mine and the Ward family can’t have you.”

“What about the baby that died?”

“My heart is broken that the baby I carried for nine months is gone. It explains why Grant Ward’s death always seemed to stay with me. I mourn the death of the son I gave birth to while I cherish the son that I got to raise who has made my life very special,” Emily tearfully stated while placing a gentle hand on her son’s face. “Now you have a choice to make. I get the feeling that you don’t really like your biological parents, especially the she beast that gave birth to you but what about your siblings? You have three more siblings that might want to get to know you.”

“I need time to think about it, Mom.”

“Of course, my sweet boy,” she whispered.

Mother and son hugged tightly before Emily kissed him on the cheek and left the room. Grant got up and walked over to his bed, laying down to process everything he had found out that day. His eyes drifted closed and the first of a recurring dream happened:

_**Grant found himself face to face with a man in his thirties that wore a dark pair of jeans, boots, a grey Henley and brown leather jacket. He had the same features as Grant but was older by at least a decade and he had dark stubble on his face. There was a tiny baby in his arms.** _

_**“You have now found out the truth, kid. Your mom is right, you have a choice to make and it won’t be easy.”** _

_**“Who are you?”** _

_**“I’m who you would have become if the switch hadn’t of happened. My grandmother, older sister and younger brother are the only members of my family that I have any affection for. As you saw for yourself, our mother is a very selfish, snobby and hateful woman. That is only a tenth of the pain that she is capable of causing. You and the baby you were switched with were very lucky to escape her and my brother, Christian,” the man said, smiling at the cooing baby in his arms. “As for the baby, this is Grant Gibson, the baby that died.”** _

_**“Why is he with you?”** _

_**“I was tasked with taking care of him. It was my penance for all of the horrible things I have done.”** _

Before Grant could respond, he sat bolt upright in his bed, gasping for air. He glanced around his bedroom, as if expecting the man from his dream to still be there. The words the man said about him being what Grant would have become if he had been raised by his biological family went through his head and he shuddered at the thought of what he had meant by that.

He walked out of his bedroom and down the stairs to find his parents and Megan sitting in the den, watching Aladdin on the DVD player. He sat down beside his little sister and let the seven year old crawl into his lap to finish watching her favorite movie. She cuddled into his chest and hugged him tightly as if she knew something was wrong.

Emily watched her children and smiled lovingly at them, grateful for how close they were, despite the ten year age difference.

“We raised a smart and wonderful son, he will make the best decision he can for him. All we can do is hope for the best, Em,” Michael whispered to his wife and held her in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am working on the next chapter and hope to be able to post it sometime tomorrow but with my work schedule this week and other real life issues that are more important, it might be this weekend before I post it. I hope everybody enjoys this chapter.
> 
> Yes, that was the Grant Ward that was killed by FitzSimmons in the previous timeline who came to young Grant in his dreams. He is doing his part to make sure this version of him has a better life and the dreams will be a recurring theme.


	6. Grant's Choice

A week later, Grant sat with his parents and Megan in their den as they waited for his older sister, Louise Ward-McCall and her husband, Patrick to arrive. He was nervous to meet her because of a burning fear that the man from his dreams could be wrong and his sister is as bad as her mother was.

There was a knock on the door and Michael walked to the front door. He opened and saw a woman in her late twenties, who had long dark hair and a slender frame. She was standing with her husband, an African American man who had medium colored skin, a closely shaved hairstyle and dark eyes. While she was around five foot eight, her husband was a few inches taller than Grant.

“Mr. Gibson?”

“Yes, I am. You can call me, Michael.”

He led the couple into the house and into the den where Emily, Megan and Grant had all stood up to greet them.

“This is my wife, Emily, our daughter Megan,” Michael introduced his wife and daughter first before turning to his very nervous son. “This is Grant.”

Tears filled Louise’s eyes at the sight of him and her husband wrapped his arm around her shoulder to comfort her.

“I apologize for the tears. You look like our grandfather; he will want to see you so badly. Grant Douglas was named after his father so his death broke his heart more than it did our parents,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes, before turning to her husband.

“This is my husband Patrick and I’m Louise Ward-McCall.”

Louise had noticed Grant’s discomfort at mentioning the baby that had died and knew that she had to address that before anything else.

“I apologize, Grant. You have to be feeling like nobody cares because everybody from our family seems to talk about Grant Douglas in the same sentence as you. I’m sure your parents would agree with what I am about to say. You are just as important as he was. In fact, making sure you are okay should be the priority right now. You are the one left behind to deal with the fall out of the switch and given how my mother acted, I don’t blame you for wanting nothing to do with her. She is not a nice person and my father lets her do what she pleases so he doesn’t have to deal with her. She’s mean and he’s weak.”

“What do you do, Louise,” Emily said, trying to change the subject to ease the tension she could tell her son was feeling.

“I graduated from law school three years ago and am working in the communications office for Massachusetts Senator Ruth Kline.”

"I bet your father just loves that,” Emily said to the younger woman with a mischievous grin.

Her grin was returned and Michael found himself grateful that his wife had found something besides her children to smile about.

“He hates that his daughter is a democrat and working for someone that goes against everything he believes in. He is a chauvinist and believes that a woman should be at home raising a family and not having a career in Politics. I intend to prove him wrong.”

“It sounds like you want to be President one day.”

“I do and Patrick is fully prepared to be ‘First Husband’ or something like that.”

“My wife wants to change the world and I intend to be there when she does,” Patrick said, smiling at his wife before gently kissing her.

Grant watches his sister and he realizes that he genuinely likes her. She is smart and seems to know what she wants in life, even if it is to make her father regret acting like she can’t be in politics because she is a woman. He had decided to join the conversation as he felt Megan hug him and noticed Louise smile softly at him and the little girl.

“Now Miss Megan, what is Grant like as a brother? I am going to need all the advice I can if I am going to be an awesome sister to him like you are.”

The little chatterbox on his lap started to talk to Louise, who took every word she said to heart and it wasn’t long until Megan was taking her and Patrick to see her toys.

“How are you, son?” Grant turned to face his mother and smiled at her, accepting her hug.

“It is awkward but she is nice and I really like her. At least one member of my biological family is someone that I can respect.”

* * *

 Later that day, Grant and Louise are sitting on the back deck as the sun sets over the Pacific Ocean while the others are in the house, giving them some privacy.

“Grant, I could lie to you and say that your childhood would have been just as wonderful with us as it was with the Gibson’s but I can’t. The only one that mother cared about was Tommy and Christian would have hurt him a couple of times if he knew that he could have gotten away with it. He wanted our mother’s love and hated Tommy for having it. There was one incident where he came close to shoving him in a well when he thought no one was looking. I caught on to what he was about to do and took Tommy with me to keep him safe. Dad’s favorite was Christian but only because he was the firstborn son and could become a Politician like him. The only reason I was spared was because I was a girl and could create an alliance with another family by marrying one their sons.”

“I already know what I am going to do, Louise. I might have been born a Ward but I was raised a Gibson with a mother and father that have loved me and been there for me for everything.”

“I see.”

“I want to get to know you and my other siblings but I am going to legally file paperwork to become Grant Gibson. I don’t want anything to do with my biological parents, especially the woman who came into my home and tried to take me from my family, acting like she was better than us. Nobody insults my family like that, especially my mother.”

“I understand. You might have to wait to see Tommy until he turns eighteen; mother is saying that he isn’t allowed to see you until you take your rightful place as a Ward.”

“If that is the way she wants it, I am fine with that. That argument is between her and Thomas. I have to do what is best for me and my parents.”

“Christian is waiting until he gets out of school before setting up a visit with you but given his need to kiss up to mom and dad, he might not come to see you at all.”

“I wish the truth had never come out, Louise. As much as I like you and have enjoyed meeting you, it would have been easier for all of us if it had never happened. My mother has cried herself to sleep for a week because of the death of her baby. I am supposed to be graduating in less than a month and I can’t concentrate on studying for my final exams and everything else for this bullshit,” Grant said, knowing what he had just said sounded heartless but he had to say what he was feeling.

“I can’t say that I blame you. I had moved on from the death of my baby brother and had gotten away from my family when all of this happened. This isn’t easy for anybody but I know it is worse for you because you are at the one at the center of this and everybody is expecting you to choose them. You have to do what is best for you,” Louise stated. “After meeting the people that have raised you, I can see why your loyalty is with them. They are the parents everybody should have. Megan is a little sweetheart and I can see that this is starting to affect her too.”

The teenage boy smiled at his sister before the door to the deck opened and Patrick stepped out, closing the door behind him before speaking to Grant.

“Your dad told me to tell you that dinner is ready and that you need to go help make sure that Megan washes her hands.”

Grant stood up from the lounge chair he had been sitting in and walked into the house. He stopped to talk to his parents before leaving the room.

Louise, who had stood up and walked over to stand beside Patrick, had been watching them; smiling at how loving her brother was with the parents that had raised him. She felt a little sad at the decision he had made but knew that Grant wouldn’t have had the love and care with their family. Even Thomas as their mother’s favorite hadn’t had an easy childhood, not with Christian’s jealousy and hatred towards him.

“Patrick, I don’t know what to do. I want to be a part of his life but he’s right, the truth shouldn’t have come out.”

Patrick held his wife and let her cry because this situation was enough to make even the strongest person want to throw something into a wall in frustration.


	7. Fate Steps In

_**June, 2008** _

First Lieutenant Grant Gibson was sitting inside of a Starbucks on Sunset Boulevard, waiting for his father to meet him. He was wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans that fits his muscular body to perfection. Every eye in the room was on him but Grant didn’t pay them any attention.

At twenty five years old, Grant had been out of West Point for three years. He had been promoted from his initial rank of Second Lieutenant to First Lieutenant only a year earlier. He was stationed at Fort Bragg near Fayetteville, NC and was home on a two week leave before a fifteen month deployment in Iraq.

The terrorist attacks on September, 11th had changed everything for him and his fellow cadets at West Point. They had all spent the next four years knowing that a deployment in the middle east was going to happen as soon as they had graduated and finished their training.

His relationships with Louise and Thomas, who had met Grant after their grandparents had stepped in with Millicent Ward, had only gotten stronger in the last seven years while Christian hated him. He had seen Grant as another child that had taken his mother’s attention away from him. Millicent Ward had tried sending Grant expensive gifts to buy his affections and all it had done was push him further away. Of course his biological father had tried to set it up for him to get into Infantry training over a classmate that had a higher rank. All it had done was led to a massive argument that drove a wedge between them where there had only been indifference on Grant’s part before.

Of course, Grant had been accepted into the program on his own merits and was now leading his own special forces team but it hadn’t been easy. It had been the most difficult training of his life but he had an aptitude for it. It was almost like it was meant to be.

He had still had visits in his dreams from the older version of him and according to him; the skills he had learned in his time had been used for more bad than good things. The other man’s advice had been invaluable to Grant; even if he had never told anybody about him for fear that his family would think he was crazy.

The sound of a couple arguing pulled Grant out of his thoughts and the sight of a man around his height with brown hair and a beard, pulling on his girlfriend’s arms as she told him to let go, made every protective instinct inside of Grant go off.

“Let me go, Miles!”

“Come on, Skye. Stop being a bitch.”

Grant jumped to his feet and walked over the where the couple was arguing and pulled Miles hand away from Skye’s arm.

“I believe that the lady told you to let her go,” Grant said firmly.

“I believe you need to stay out of this and mind your own business,” Miles snarked back. “Come on, Skye. We are leaving.”

Grant took a good look at Skye and felt his heart stop at the pretty five foot seven brunette in front of him. Her olive colored skin and dark eyes also caught his attention. He felt like he had met the other part of his soul which the voice of the man from his dreams screaming out _**‘Talk to her, idiot!’**_ seemed to make that feeling even stronger.

“Are you okay?”

Skye smiled shyly at him as Miles got even more pissed off than he had been before.

“Really, you are going to flirt with another guy in front of me!”

“Go away, Miles and leave me alone,” Skye told him still staring at Grant.

“I believe the young lady and my son told you to leave her alone,” Michael stated as he walked over to where the conflict was taking place.

Miles stormed out of the coffee shop, the bell over the door going off as he went.

Skye looked at father and son, gasping in shock at the sight of Michael.

“You’re him, the fireman who saved my life when I was five years old.”

“Mary?” “I was named Mary back then but I changed my name when I ran away from the orphanage. My name is Skye now.”

“I came back with my wife and son to adopt you but they said that you had been taken in by another foster family.”

“They lied to you. I was upstairs and saw you leaving that day. They told me that I couldn’t be adopted by you,” Skye said, tears filling her eyes. “I really wanted to go with you because I knew that you and your family would be the family I have never had.”

Michael then took in how his son and Skye were looking at each other and knew why it hadn’t worked out. This girl would be a part of their family but as a daughter-in-law instead. Nature just had to take its course.

“How about you have dinner with us tonight? My wife would love to finally meet you,” Michael asked, deciding to give nature a bit of a push.

“Dad,” Grant said, shaking his head in embarrassment, knowing exactly what his father was up to.

“I would love to come to dinner, Mr. Gibson. I just need to talk to Miles and get my things from his apartment.”

“Given what we just witnessed, you aren’t going to be alone with him. That little punk better be lucky I don’t pop him one for how he grabbed you,” Michael stated.

The three of them walked out of the coffee shop, Michael standing back and watching as his son and Skye talked to each other like nobody else existed. He smiled and knew that meeting Skye would change his son forever.

* * *

 

Later that night after a wonderful dinner where Emily and Megan had both instantly liked Skye, Grant and Skye were sitting out on the family’s deck. They were each in lounge chair, a comfortable distance apart, taking in the setting sun.

“Your family is wonderful, Grant.”

“I know. I might not be their biological child but they have been there for me from the moment I was born.”

“Were you adopted like Megan was?”

“No. I found out when I was eighteen that I had been switched with another baby, who died when he was a week old.”

Skye gasped in shock as she realized who he was. She had heard about it on the news when she was thirteen years old. She had empathized with the boy that had been left behind to deal with the fallout of the baby switch.

“You were born a Ward, weren’t you?”

“Yes but I was raised a Gibson and I made it legal as soon as I could. The only members of my biological family that I talk to are my paternal grandparents, my sister Louise and my brother Tommy.”

“Christian Ward comes across as a douchebag so I can understand why you don’t get along with him but what about your biological parents?”

“The woman who gave birth to me insulted my mother the first time that I met her so that ruined any chance of me wanting anything to do with her, despite her attempts to buy my affections. My sperm donor tried to use his influence to get me admitted into Infantry training over one of my classmates who was higher ranked than me. I told him to leave it alone. Luckily, I made it on my own merits and not because of who my biological family is.”

“I heard your parents saying that you were going to Iraq for fifteen months, how long are you going to be here?”

“Two weeks.”

“Your parents have offered me a place to stay. They said that it wasn’t safe for me to live in a van.”

“I agree. I don’t trust that Miles guy especially after the way he grabbed you.”

“He was pissed because I wasn’t going to go to Texas with him,” Skye explained. “I know that living in my van isn’t safe but I don’t want to intrude and there isn’t a bedroom for me.”

“Yes there is. I live in the apartment over the garage when I am home so my old bedroom is free. Besides my father wants to make sure that you are okay. What happened with you has stayed with him for years and now that he has found you again, he feels this need to protect you,” he said before smirking at her. “My mother, now that she has met you, isn’t going to let you leave until she knows that you have a safe place to stay. She is a mother bear that will go off on anybody who hurts her babies. She considers my Ward siblings, even Christian hers too.”

“Why does it feel like we have known each other for years when we only just met today? I heard what sounded like my own voice telling me to talk to you,” Skye quietly said.

Grant was so thrown by her change of subject that it took him a second to respond to her question.

“I felt the same thing. I heard someone that I have only talked to in my dreams tell me to talk to you.”

“Does he look like an older version of you?”

“How did you know that?”

“That is what also made me stop when I saw you. I have seen the same man and another version of me in my dreams since the night the nuns prevented your family from seeing me.”

“I have never seen her but he has come to me in my dreams since the truth about the switch came out.”

“It almost feels like we are the two of them getting a second chance.”

Skye stood up from the chair she was in and walked over to the deck railing, staring at the pink and purple colors filling the sky. She was so lost in thought that Grant’s arms coming around her startled her a bit until she realized that this was where she was meant to be.

“Spend the next two weeks of my leave with me,” he asked her softly.

“Okay.”

They stood there and talked quietly for a while not noticing that Emily and Michael were watching them from their bedroom window.

“She is the one for him, Em.”

“I know but we still don’t anything about her and why the nuns lied to us about her being with another family.”

“Are you thinking of calling your mother for help?”

“No. I’m calling Louise because she has the connections to find out what I want to know. I don’t want my baby and that sweet girl to be pulled into something that will cause them pain.”

Michael held his wife but knew that despite her fear, he had to make sure that his son found happiness beyond his Army career. Skye was the key to that, he knew it.


	8. A Day At The Beach

A couple of days had passed since Grant and Skye had met and the two of them along with his parents and Megan were meeting Louise, Tommy and surprisingly Christian at Santa Monica pier. They were going to enjoy a day of swimming down on the beach before going to the pier to enjoy the rides and the other things to do there.

Emily had taken Skye in as one of her own and was planning on talking to Louise about what she had found out. From what the woman had told her during the phone conversation the night before: Shield was involved in the mystery of Skye’s past.

She didn’t trust them especially after they tried to take her brother, who had been born with the power to read minds away from their family and put him on their damn gifted index. Her father, a very powerful man in the business world, had told Nick Fury and Alexander Pierce that he would make their lives hell if they didn’t back off and leave his family alone. They hadn’t heard a thing from Shield since then but now with Skye becoming a part of their lives, Emily was afraid that her family would have to deal with them once again.

“Mom, are you coming?”

Emily turned to face Megan, the pretty fourteen year old sounding worried about her mom. “I’m right behind you. Where is your father, Grant and Skye?”

“Daddy and Grant are putting everything in their cars while Skye is getting ready,” she said. “I know you are worried about Skye and the mystery of her past but she makes Grant happy. It is so weird that they have made a connection with each other only two days after meeting but it feels like it is meant to be too.”

“Most mothers never stop worrying about their children even after they are grown up. You and your brother will always be my babies no matter how old you are.”

Megan could see the sadness in her mom’s eyes and knew that she was thinking about the baby that had died.

“You are still thinking about Grant Douglas, aren’t you?”

“I will always think about him and wonder but you and Grant have made my life wonderful. Now with Skye and your brother’s other siblings coming into our lives, there are more of you to love and to worry about.”

“Even Christian,” Megan asked, making a face at just the thought of Grant’s older brother.

Emily grinned at the expression on her daughter’s face before responding. “Yes, even Christian. His mother is a selfish woman that only shows love for Thomas and while I mourn the death of my son, I am glad that neither he nor Grant got to experience being raised by her. Thomas, Louise and Christian need to have someone in their lives that is a maternal figure to them and I feel like I am the one to be that for them.”

“Grant and I both understand that, it just isn’t easy to see you trying to make up for another woman being a selfish witch.”

“It’s time to go!” Michael’s voice interrupted what Emily would have said in response to her daughter’s comment. She just walked towards the front door and went outside to see that Grant and Skye had already left in his car.

* * *

“Do I look okay? I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of two US Senators,” Skye commented from the passenger seat of Grant’s black 65 Mustang.

“You look beautiful,” Grant said. “Don’t worry about Louise, she is a sweetheart, well unless you are the opposition for a bill she is trying to get passed or her mother. Christian knows all about my training and won’t mess with you because he knows I can kick his ass.”

“How many ways do you know how to kill someone?”

“That’s classified,” Grant smirked at her.

Before she could respond, they pulled into the parking lot at Santa Monica pier and parked beside a black SUV. Grant stopped the engine of his car and proceeded to get out, walking over to Skye’s side of the car.

“Thomas is the one you have to watch, he is a ladies man and a flirt,” Grant smirked at her, holding his hand out to help her out of the car.

“He wouldn’t hit on someone that is with you, would he?”

“He might at least until Megan gets here. The two of them can’t stand each other. She calls him a sexist ass.”

“Or is it the fact that they are both the babies of their families and are used to getting their way.”

Grant grinned at her and held her hand as they walked over to where Louise, Christian and Thomas, a six foot tall man with dark hair and blue eyes, the only thing that set him apart from his other siblings.

“Who’s the babe, Grant?”

“Thomas Jacob, cut it out,” Louise chastised her youngest brother. “Do not hit on Grant’s friend! Oh and try to act like an adult for once and not fight with Megan.”

“She starts it!”

“Leave my baby sister alone, Thomas. I have taught her some things and she might hurt you,” Grant commented. “Everybody this is Skye. Although I am pretty sure that Louise knows who she is because my mother called to do a background check on her.”

“Grant…”

“Louise, mom told me and Skye what she did.”

“Well pray and hope that mother never meets her because she will try to throw a daughter of one of her society friends at you. One that she thinks is worthy of a Ward and not a homeless orphan,” Christian commented. “She’s a snob like that.”

“Christian, the first time I see your mother try to come between **my son** and Skye or any girl that he is seeing, the punch to the jaw that she got at Grant’s graduation from West Point will be tame in comparison,” Emily fiercely stated as she walked over from her car.

Michael and Megan grinned as they followed her, the both of them remembering the punch that led to Millicent Ward being led out of the graduation ceremony.

“Yes ma’am,” Christian said as he fought not to smirk as memories of that day went through his mind.

Emily walked towards the beach holding a few bags in her hand as the others followed her, the previous discussion over with; at least for now.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Skye was sitting on a lounge chair under an umbrella watching as Grant, his father and brothers tossed a football on the beach. She stared at his abs and the firm body and despite their conversation two days before, still wondered at the instant attraction she had felt for him.

“Be careful, Skye. You are starting to drool,” Louise stated teasingly as she sat down beside the younger woman.

Skye watched as the Senator sat down and wondered how to talk to this powerful woman. She definitely was out of her league.

“Nobody knows this but I was the only one who watched all of the security footage that was taken the day that the babies were switched. In one part of it, the woman who did it turned to face the camera and guess what I saw Skye.”

“What?”

“The woman who did this could have been your twin and she hasn’t been seen since that night.” Skye sat up and gaped at Louise, who had tears in her eyes.

“Despite the pain it caused, the switch was the best damn thing that happened for Grant. I dread what would have happened to him living in that house. Christian was a jealous ass that tried to hurt Thomas because he was mother’s favorite. I have a feeling that Grant would have ended up his scapegoat.”

“Louise, are you suggesting that the woman that did this came through time to change things?”

“If I had access to a time machine, I sure as hell would change a lot of things about my childhood.”

The two women sat there and continued to watch the Ocean waves hit the shore before they were brought back to reality by a young woman tripping over Skye’s lounge chair, falling at their feet.

Louise and Skye both helped her up and took in the dark hair and eyes along with the olive skin. She was stammering in an attempt to apologize as two men, one blond, lean and tall, the other a Hispanic male in his mid-twenties with the same body type and height of his friend.

“Are you okay, Kara?” Kara turned to face the blond hair man who had spoken embarrassment clear on her face.

“I’m fine, Lincoln.” She turned to face Skye and Louise, her face flushed. “I am so sorry. I can be such a klutz,” she said before recognizing just who it was she was facing.

“I am so sorry, Senator. I should have been watching what I was doing.”

“That’s not what’s important, Kara. Were you hurt when you fell?”

“No, just my pride,” Kara said with a rueful smile.

“Now I know this handsome young man is Lincoln, who is the other gentleman with you?” “This is my fiance, Adam Marcus,” Kara said, going over to hug Adam.

“This was my fault, Senator. She was looking at me and not where she was supposed to be going.”

That was the moment that Grant came over to stand beside Skye and the moment Kara and Lincoln saw him, silence took over as the four of them all felt a sense that they knew each other.


	9. Falling In Love and Strange Jealousy

Kara glanced over at where Grant and Skye were sitting at the table that Emily Gibson had gotten for all of them at a local diner after their day at the beach. She didn’t know why she felt strong waves of jealousy at their easy affection with each other. She was completely in love with Adam.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

Kara turned to look at Adam and got lost in his dark eyes the way she always had from the moment they had met.

“I don’t know. I feel like I have met Grant and Skye before. It is the same feeling I had when I met Lincoln in sixth grade when my family moved to Ohio,” Kara whispered shakily to him, holding his hand tightly.

“Maybe you knew them in some alternate universe,” Adam jokingly commented before kissing her on the forehead and looking at his menu.

* * *

Across the table, Lincoln sat between Megan and Thomas, trying to be a buffer between them and was also watching Grant and Skye. He also felt jealousy fill him and didn’t know why. He had a girlfriend back home in Cleveland. She was supposed to come with him to California on vacation but couldn’t come at the last minute. He was in love with Janie, so why did seeing Skye and Grant together make him want to put his fist through the soldier’s face despite the fact he knew he would get his ass kicked.

“What’s your girlfriend like, Lincoln?”

He smiled at Megan and her friendly and sweet nature. The only one who seemed to tick the high school senior off was Thomas Ward and in a lot of ways, it was because the both of them were jealous of any attention Grant gave the other one.

“Janie is smart, beautiful and the best part of me,” Lincoln stated.

“So what are you studying at Ohio State,” Michael asked.

“I am pre-med and am starting my senior year in the fall. I have already applied to Bowman Gray School of medicine and start med school next July.”

“Adam is also applying to the same program,” Kara said, proud of both her boyfriend and best friend.

“What about you, Kara?”

Kara smiled at Emily, who had asked the question, until she had seen the expression on the other woman’s face and her expression turned serious. The woman had noticed her looking at Skye and Grant and seemed to be in mother bear mode.

“I am pre-law and have applied to Wake Forest School of Law,” she commented.

“So all three of you will only be a few hours away from Fayetteville where Grant is stationed? That’s interesting.”

Michael turned to glance at his wife, wondering where this passive aggressive attitude was coming from because this wasn’t like her at all. His Emily was feisty and tough. Something about Lincoln and Kara especially had her acting completely unlike herself. He exchanged a look with his son, who had also picked up on how his mother sounded.

The waitress, along with several of her co-workers, walked up that moment with about three trays full of food. They started to place orders on the table and everybody quietly waited for them to finish before starting to eat.

“Is your mom okay, Grant?”

“You noticed that too?”

“Something about Kara has her acting weird.”

“I feel it too. It feels like we have met both her and Lincoln before but I have never seen them before.”

“I felt that way too. I think we need to keep out distance from them until we go back to your parents’ house.”

“How about we leave after lunch, I want to show you one of my favorite places.”

Skye smiled at him and nodded her head in agreement.

* * *

A couple of hours later, they were walking hand in hand through one of the many hiking trails in Runyon Park.

“Did you feel the presence of the previous versions of us when we met Lincoln and Kara?”

“Yes. He told me to be careful with her. That her life is very different then the reality he was from. She deserved the happiness she was experiencing and that my presence might mess things up for her,” Grant answered.

“She told me to leave Lincoln alone too. I don’t know why they are so worried; I’m not attracted to him.”

“Kara is in love with Adam, a person would have to be an idiot not to see that and besides there is someone else that has all of my attention right now,” he said with a cocky smirk on his face.

“Oh and who is that?”

Grant didn’t say a word; he just pulled Skye closer to him and gently kissed her. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before and like coming home all at the same time.

The kiss quickly got hotter as he backed Skye against the tree and she wrapped her legs around his waist. They were so lost in each other, both failed to remember that they were in public place where anybody could see them.

The sound of children laughing brought Grant back to reality and he quickly pulled away from Skye, sitting her back on her feet right as a group of school age children came walking down the path. With them were two older women in her sixties, they smirked as they went past them like they knew what the two of them had just been doing.

“Oh to be young again,” one of them commented wistfully before laughing with her friend as they disappeared from sight.

“At least they weren’t those older ladies that would have called us heathens for making out in public,” Skye devilishly commented with a grin.

“We better get back before mom sends out a search party. Besides, I need to talk to Louise before she heads back to Boston.”

They held hands as they walked back to his car, talking quietly as they went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the delay on this chapter. For a long time, I had a major case of writers block going on, especially with my Agents of Shield stories. I then decided after that disastrous mid-season finale to get back into writing to give Grant Ward the story he deserved and not what he got.
> 
> The person I feel for in this whole mess is Brett Dalton. If people he considers friends treats him like this and use him being bullied for hype, I would hate to see what an enemy would do.


End file.
